A Library Journal 2020 Title to Watch

“Terrific – and an amazing achievement to cover so much ground in such a short and wonderfully readable book.” -Peter Frankopan, bestselling author of The Silk Roads

Russia’s epic and dramatic story told in an accessible, lively and short form, using the country’s fascinating history to illuminate its future.

A country with no natural borders, no single ethnic group, no true central identity, Russia has mythologized its past to unite its people and to signal strength to outsiders. Mark Galeotti takes us behind the myths to the heart of the Russian story:

• the formation of a nation through its early legends including Ivan the Terrible and Catherine the Great
• the rise and fall of the Romanovs, the Russian Revolution, the Cold War, Chernobyl and the Soviet Union
• the arrival of an obscure politician named Vladimir Putin.

A Short History of Russia explores the history of this fascinating, glorious, desperate and exasperating country through two intertwined issues: the way successive influences from beyond its borders have shaped Russia, and the way Russians came to terms with this influence, writing and rewriting their past to understand their present and try to influence their future. In turn, this self-invented history has come to affect not just their constant nation-building project but also their relations with the world.

Mark Galeotti is the go-to expert on organized crime in Russia, consulted by governments and police around the world. Now, Western listeners can explore the fascinating history of the vory v zakone, a group that has survived and thrived amid the changes brought on by Stalinism, the Cold War, the Afghan War, and the end of the Soviet experiment.

The vory-as the Russian mafia is also known-was born early in the twentieth century, largely in the Gulags and criminal camps, where they developed their unique culture. Identified by their signature tattoos, members abided by the thieves’ code, a strict system that forbade all paid employment and cooperation with law enforcement and the state. Based on two decades of on-the-ground research, Galeotti’s captivating study details the vory’s journey to power from their early days to their adaptation to modern-day Russia’s free-wheeling oligarchy and global opportunities beyond.